Starz launching 5 new HD channels next year
By Richard Lawler 
posted Oct 21st 2009 9:09AM
posted Oct 21st 2009 9:09AM
Hopefully taking advantage of all that bandwidth saved in the switch to MPEG-4, Starz has announced plans for 5 new HD feeds due mid-2010. New for the '10 are Starz in black HD, Starz Cinema HD, IndiePlex HD, RetroPlex HD and an Encore HD West Coast stream. That brings the number of Starz HD channels up to 9 (plus two west coast feeds), if you've been missing movies on those networks for lack of HD, your suffering is nearly over. The rest of us are just waiting for Party Watch on all the Starz Play titles on Netflix Watch Instantly.
This is good news. FIOS will probably pick these up. They carry all currently existing premium HD channels except Starz West for some reason. They have all the HBO/MAX's, Showtimes/TMCs, and all the other Starz channels in HD. On the other hand we have my local cable company, Bright House Networks, who carries only the flagship station of each service in HD.
I'd rather have HD on all of the Starz Play movies before we worry about Party rights...
agreed.... all I want from starz is to give netflix hd sources.
Here's the thing: how many sources of movie content does one need? Amazon (count the ways!), Netflix, HBO, Showtime, HDNet, Blockbuster, private DVD/BD collections. And of course TV shows, sports and other forms of video.
People talk about downloads vs Blu-ray. Seems like subscription movie channels are killed by download first.
I'm stuck with TWC, so will probably get these in 2021. Hell, TWC doesn't even carry Starz OD SD.
Five more useless wastes of bandwidth. Unless you like your movies cropped and the audio normalized.
Ben-
If you had FIOS, which has the capacity for these, would you rather have or not have them if it came at no additional cost to your Starz subscription?
It doesn't make you special or cool that you can point out flaws of a cable premium channel. We all know that the premium channels do their share of cropping and audio "normalizing." But speaking for myself, the more channels of movies we have, the better. I have found SO MANY hidden gems of movies on premium channels and then later went out and bought the disc. I am not going to spend $30 on something I never heard to add to my bluray collection. But I might catch a flick on Indieplex that I fall in love with and then go out and buy it.
You can say, "get it Netflix." Well, for one, I am not a Netflixer (by choice), and even if I was, I wouldn't be ordering movies I'd never heard of, I'd build my queue around movies on my wishlist that I want to see. I wouldn't stumble across an excellent movie like I do with premium channels.
Not sure what to tell you Scott. I guess the only thing I can think of is that I wish I could enjoy movies on Starz etc, but the reality is I'd rather watch a movie on DVD then to watch one on Starz HD.
So yeah, I'd say to get Netflix and rent Blu-ray Discs or DVDs. It is cheaper, there are more movies to choose from and the quality is better. Now if all of that is nothing compared to the amount of effort required to hike to the mailbox -- somewhere I go every day anyways -- for you, then I guess you are better off without Netflix.
Scott,
I find it interesting that your complaint about Netflix seems to be that you personally wouldn't watch movies you hadn't heard of. I have a two disc subscription plan (as well as streaming of course) and I try to use the second disc exclusively for movies that are recommended to me either by other people or by Netflix. Not to take this whole story off subject or anything, but it really is a great service, you should really give it a try :)
Ben, I couldn't agree more. If they kept the original aspect ratio (all 2:35:1 Cinemascope wide films are downsized to 16:9) I might be more excited but all these pay channels crop the widescreen films, and I won't watch them. I would feel different if they were in their original aspect ratio. That said, there is still nothing like a good Blu-ray with so much less video compression and lossless audio. I got an ad from DirecTV saying they are showing movies in 1080p that are "the same quality as Blu-ray." What BS, the sound is severely compressed and so is the picture on sat or cable.
Dick Ward---- yeah, I get the whole Netflx thing. I am just oldschool about it. I don'r rent. I wantch a lot of premium movies and buy a lot of burays. I a, not one to poke my head in blockbuster and rent something. I feel I am pretty on top of movies and no what I want to see. I either go to the cinema, buy on bluray/dvd, or wating until it hits a premium ( a real premium, not MGM with their commercials now. If I like it enough I buy it on bluray/dvd.
What makes me sick people that watch movies on TNT and other basic cable channels. They are cut for commercials and cut up the movie. They stick. OAR or not, the movie channels ast least don't cut up the movie. It is good enough to see the flim and make a decision whtether to buy or not.
yes, I am aware of all my mistakes.... no instead of know....etc.... just very tired....yawn....have a great evening everyone.